One of those films that never quite lives up to the description; based on the true story of Billy Hayes who in 1970 was arrested attempting to smuggle two kilos of hash from Turkey to America. He was eventually sentenced to life in prison, Turkish prison that is, so you can imagine what things were like.
Billy escaped in 1975, had his book published in 1977, and the film adaptation written by Oliver Stone was released the following year. It seems as though they were in a hurry to make ‘The Movie of the True Story’ and Oliver Stone has apparently expresses some regret over how the adaptation turned out. Particularly the way that every Turkish character (and there are a lot of them) is depicted very negatively; they’re all either corrupt, sadistic, imbecilic or at the very least really greasy.
The lead is played by Brad Davis who you won’t recognise from anywhere. He isn’t very good in this film but the supporting cast of John Hurt, Randy Quaid and Paul L Smith are all much better. The biggest problem with Midnight Express is that from the very beginning it’s hard for the audience to have any sympathy for Billy. He’s trying to smuggle drugs (a bad start for any protagonist) and he’s doing a very bad job of it. Billy Hayes is depicted as an incredibly incompetent smuggler, which he was, but no audience is going to root for someone doing a bad thing badly. Soon after he is caught, Billy is given the chance to make up for his crime and get back to America, but in a poorly realised scene he panics, runs and is recaptured, booking himself a trip to Turkish prison hell.
Perhaps the reason I didn’t like Midnight Express is because I’ve been spoilt by much better prison films, most notably the Brazilian film Carandiru. The source material probably deserved better.
In case you ever wondered where this came from.
No comments:
Post a Comment